1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a method of matching a color of two regions painted with two different paint systems. More specifically, the subject invention relates to a method of matching a color of a powder paint system with a color of a liquid paint system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern vehicles, such as automobiles, are typically offered to consumers in a wide variety of paint colors. In fact, from model year to model year, it is not uncommon for a particular vehicle model to be available in several new paint colors. Different types of paint systems may be used to paint the vehicles. One type of paint system that is used to paint vehicles is a powder paint system.
Powder paint systems are used for certain functional and aesthetic purposes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,379,947; 5,552,487; 5,569,539; 5,601,878; and 5,639,821 all disclose various powder paint systems known in the prior art. Powder paint systems have come into favor as providing environmental advantages, such as reduced VOCs over conventional liquid paint systems. As a result, some large vehicle manufacturers favor the use of powder paint systems.
In powder paint systems, a powder paint composition is electrically charged and deposited onto a charged substrate to form a film layer. The film layer is then baked to cure the powder paint composition. It is also known in the art to incorporate conventional pigments, and even conventional effect pigments, specifically metallic pigments, into powder-based coating compositions.
As is often the case, portions of vehicles need to be repainted, often as a result of a defect such as lint, paint scratch, smudge, etc. These defects can be introduced during manufacturing and assembly of the vehicle. Vehicles also need to be repainted after a collision in the refinish industry. Furthermore, many parts suppliers who supply components such as bumpers, mirror housings, moldings, and the like must paint the components prior to delivery of the components to vehicle manufacturers. The facilities and tooling required for using the powder paint systems are relatively costly, as compared to the facilities and tooling required for liquid paint systems. As a result, the liquid paint systems provide the best available option in many situations.
One of the problems that arises for the parts suppliers and those repainting portions of the vehicle with the liquid paint systems is that it is essential to match a color of the vehicle resulting from the powder paint system with a color resulting from the liquid paint composition. Various systems and methods are known in the art that assist in determining a paint formula for the portion that is to be painted or repainted. These systems and methods, however, are not suitable for matching a color of a powder paint system that includes metallic pigment with a color of the liquid paint system. More specifically, liquid and powder paint systems cure differently, and the color of the powder paint system is noticeably different from the color of the liquid paint system when metallic pigment is included in the powder paint system. This is so even if the exact same pigments, in the exact same amounts, are included in the liquid paint system and the powder paint system.
As a result, up to this point, the matching of the color of the powder paint systems that include metallic pigment with the color of the liquid paint systems has been unsatisfactory. As such, there remains an opportunity to provide a method of matching the colors of two vehicle surfaces painted with two different paint systems, namely, a method of matching the color of the powder paint system including metallic pigment with the color of the liquid paint system.